Meet Dr Shah Rukh Khan now

LONDON: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be conferred an honorary Doctorate in Arts and Culture by a leading British University on Friday.

Shah Rukh, the first foreign actor to be conferred the Malaysian title of Datuk, equivalent to a British Knighthood last year, will receive the Doctorate from Professor Les Ebdon, OBE, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire.

The University of Bedfordshire received nomination of Shah Rukh Khan from an NGO, Routes to Roots
, which is also a member of World Association for Non Governmental Organisations.

It works in the sphere of augmenting people to people contact across the world, specially endeavouring to bring people and cultures together across the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in general and India and Pakistan in particular. Actor Juhi Chawla and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt are among its patrons.

"Shah Rukh Khan was selected by us after careful study since he has his head and heart at the right place in spite of being crowned the King of Bollywood. The superstar has done immense work for the underprivileged and downtrodden and has always come forward for charities in case of natural disasters," said Tina Vachani, co-founder, Routes to Roots.

Exclusive Interview: ‘I Only Make Love Stories’: Shah Rukh Khan

SAN FRANCISCO — Actor Shah Rukh Khan touched on his role in Karan Johar’s “My Name Is Khan,” his famous chemistry with costar Kajol, and the constant controversies that dog him, in an interview with India-West at his hotel July 3.

Recently, a Muslim cleric issued a fatwa against Khan for the actor’s comments in a magazine suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed was not a purely historical figure. Khan has said that he was misquoted. A few months earlier, Khan changed the title of his film, “Billu Barber,” because barbers in India felt the title was disrespectful. But he says he refuses to let any controversies rule his life.

“I think it’s unimportant,” Khan told India-West. “I don’t want to waste time from things I like to do, like making movies or having intelligent conversations with intelligent people. Watch a movie. Work on my laptop. Spend some time with my children. Think of a script and do what I do best.”

But like it or not, Bollywood news thrives on such controversies; look at what happened when Akshay Kumar let his wife unzip his jeans on a fashion runway (Kumar, and his wife, turned themselves in at a police station); and look what happened when Jaya Bachchan inadvertently offended the Thackeray camp in Mumbai when she refused to speak in Marathi (she later apologized).

“I don’t know why they do what they do,” said Khan. “I do it because I’m moving on to do some other project that needs to be released. You don’t like ‘Barber’? Take it out.”

“If I walk out of here and there are 500 people standing there, and I turn around and some girl says, ‘You hurt me,’ I won’t ask her why. I won’t ask her how. I won’t say, ‘What the hell are you saying?’ I will just say, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. I don’t know how, but I’m sorry.’ And I’ll move on.

“Because whenever people say, ‘I love you,’ I don’t ask them why. I just say, ‘Thank you very much.’ So I have neither the right, nor the time, nor the inclination, to sit down. As a matter of fact, to sit down and explain your point of view to a lot of people I find it boring. I’m unsocial when it comes to wanting to explain things that are unimportant.”

The speed with which such news stories spreads is part of the problem, he said.

“Those days are gone when you read the newspaper and believed everything you read in it. I don’t hold it against anyone. You guys [the press] are now like UPS, like Fedex. You have to get it in time. The line between entertainment and news is completely obliterated.

“When I see the unfortunate coverage of Michael Jackson, I want to see it too. The funny part is, I’m a party to it. I want to see as much of it as possible, right or wrong. So I’m as much to blame.

“That’s how the world is now. I feel when all this is happening, it’s all fun. Let it go on. I need to do the things which are not fun, which are more important. It’s never that I’ve backed out. If people think ‘He got scared,’ good enough.

“These days when I meet people I think instead of saying ‘Hello’ I should say, ‘I’m sorry,’” Khan told India-West with a smile.

In “My Name Is Khan,” Khan plays Rizvan, a Muslim Indian man with Asperger’s syndrome, who befriends and falls in love with Mandira (Kajol), a Hindu single mother living in San Francisco. Their relationship reaches a critical point after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Khan decides to travel across the United States in order to meet the president and tell him that he is not a terrorist.

Audiences are eager to see Khan and Kajol reunite after an eight-year gap since Johar’s “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.” But Khan himself can’t put his finger on what makes them such a special pair.

“We have no chemistry at all. It’s a misnomer!” he said. “We laugh at this every time. I don’t know what chemistry is. Neither does Kajol. Neither does Karan. Unless you’re sleeping with each other, you don’t understand what chemistry is. And I don’t sleep with any of my heroines.

“I go to work, we have fun together, I’ve said this a million times. I think ‘chemistry’ is a term used from the outside — how it looks on the screen. I wouldn’t know, because I’m inside the screen. When I see me and Kajol in a film, I find what we’ve done personally before it comes on screen better than what comes on screen.”

But he adds, “Sometimes I shout at her because she’s younger to me. I get very, very angry with her. If you see us together on the set and I’m shouting at her, you’ll find there is no chemistry like that!”

The equation of Khan, Kajol and Johar leads audiences to expect a certain kind of film, but Khan does not concern himself with that, and indeed looks forward to a new, more mature synergy between the three of them.

“I love working with Kajol and Karan. I’ve done 65 films and not one has been done keeping in mind the expectations of what people would like to see. The idea is always that I will do something and make sure that people like it.

“Why would we get together 15 years later and make ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ again? One has to give us a little credit for a little bit of growing up that we have also done.

“Obviously it’s not ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.’ That film was made by better-looking, younger people than us. We’ve done ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,’ ‘Kuch Kuch’ and ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.’ They have an inherent niceness in terms of love.

“This film will have a lot of love. I only make love stories; even ‘Don’ was a love story.”

Khan worked with screenwriter Shibani Bathija in researching the role of Rizvan Khan. “The character I’m playing has Asperger’s, a milder form of autism,” he said.

“I’ve studied a lot, met a lot of people, and read a lot of books on it. When I was young, I used to work with autistic children in theater.

“I’ve always had this desire to do a character — it’s not a disability — I’ve always wanted to try and understand how a mind works that works differently than mine and yours. Just because we don’t understand things does not mean they’re not well. I may get sued for saying this, but I think of Asperger’s and autism as the way we’re going to evolve. The mind is going to become much more logical, less passionate and emotional.”

The film also depicts what it is like to live as a Muslim in America. “The film is about the relationship between the Western world and Islam and how that has changed over the past few years,” said Khan. “The journey of one family and how it changes because of 9/11, we touch upon that in a very unbiased and educated way.

“It was important to play this guy, and it was important for me, as a Muslim. I know a lot of things that I have felt sometimes, and tried to utilize that. Some of my childhood education about Islam has come in handy, too. It’s an important film and I hope people understand it and like it.”

Although Khan is able to shoot acting scenes, and show up in person at live appearances like a meet-and-greet he attended in San Jose later that evening (see separate story), his old shoulder injury, and the February surgery he underwent for it, have meant that he has to curtail dancing and action scenes.

But Khan is eager to start work as soon as possible on “Ravan,” a superhero film to be directed by Anubhav Sinha that will reportedly be India’s most expensive film.

“I wanted to make it, and I want to start it,” said Khan. “Prashant [Shah, line producer for ‘My Name Is Khan’] is the producer here, and I’ve been troubling him for months now. “Part of it is to be shot here. It’s a special film for me. I want to put on my tights and my kids’ blanket on my back. I want to do this film for my children.

“I’ve always wanted to make a superhero film, but I never had six-pack abs. Now that I have them, I want to do this. It’s not an animation film, as many people believe; I would like to clarify that. It’s a live action film.

“I’m getting a little depressed about my injury because for me to do something physically active, such as Farah Khan’s ‘Happy New Year,’ ‘Don 2’ or ‘Ravan,’ I have to be physically fit, and I don’t see that happening until about October or November. These are the three films that I will start working on as soon as I get better.”

More, more, more: Khan, quick talking and energetic, seems like a hungry young actor, and not a complacent superstar.

“I don’t work for posterity or prosperity. I work because I want to work,” he said. “I just hope my kids learn from the good things that I know and not from the bad things that I have done. Hopefully, I will have a happy and healthy life. I tell my kids, remember me as someone who tried very hard.”

LISA TSERING, INDIAWEST

SRK in Kabir Khan's love story!

After two back-to-back films with strife-laden, political themes, Kabir Khan is ready to let his hair down.

His next, which he has just started to script, is a fantasy film with a heavy escapist element. Apparently, Aditya Chopra has asked Kabir to pen his next project with Shah Rukh Khan in mind. So it would be Khan and Khan in the next one.

Kabir says, “After Kabul Express and New York, I need to unwind. Not that I don’t enjoy making films on serious global political issues. I do. I enjoy the reputation of someone who identifies with issues that go beyond entertainment. But I also need to prove myself in a more adventurous, escapist space.”

That’s where Kabir’s next will score. It will be a film with a serious dose of light-heartedness. My next is going to be a thrilling love story. Now that I’m writing it, I’m having fun.”

So will it be a hat-trick with John Abraham? “Not necessarily,” comes the guarded answer. “It will depend on who fits into the final script.”

Yash Chopra wants SRK or Aamir

It's been five years since Yash Chopra last wore the director's hat in Veer Zaara. Now the most celebrated filmmaker in the country wants to direct a romantic movie. Since this might be one of his last directorial movies Yash Chopra wants either Shahrukh Khan or Aamir Khan to play the male lead. Yash Raj Films plan to hit the floors by the end of this year or early next year. The ace director has worked on the script of the movie for quite some time now.

Yash Chopra has been in talks with both Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan regarding the movie but both the actors haven't given any definite answer due t their tight schedule. Yash is willing to wait for an answer form either of them as he doesn't want to settle for any other star. Yash Chopra plans to cast a fresh face as the female lead in the movie. It remains to be seen whether it is Shahrukh or Aamir in Yash Chopra's masterpiece.

SRK's red alert for Salman!

Shah Rukh Khan and Salman may maintain a distance from each other, but in a small industry it's hard to be off each other's radar completely.

Recently, SRK was shooting for Dulha Mil Gaya and was supposed to play a red guitar. The director Mudassar Aziz and choreographer Ahmed Khan didn't fancy the guitar provided and asked for a replacement. The only substitute in the city was with Salman, who was shooting at Famous studios, Mahalaxmi, for Wanted.

Mudassar Aziz was aghast. He had got Shah Rukh's dates with a lot of difficulty. He was panicking that the shoot may have to be cancelled yet again as it had been several times prior to this.

The people who supplied the guitar took a drastic risk. They sneaked out Salman’s guitar at Famous and quietly replaced it with SRK’s instrument. Sneaking into the lion’s den and having survived was no mean feat.

“They got it without Salman knowing who sneaked into his shoot and exchanged the instruments,” said a source from the sets.

Ahmed Khan said, “I told the suppliers that we’ll wait for a few hours but they had to get it come what may. We could not afford to cancel the shoot.”

When Ahmed and the others asked them how they managed to get it from Salman, they said that when they entered the set, Salman was playing the guitar. After a while he kept the guitar aside and left. The suppliers took Salman’s guitar and replaced it with Shah Rukh’s guitar. The two guitars were similar and they don’t know if Salman shot with that guitar or not.

Mudassar Aziz said, “This is the best song of my film. I know that the song is a sure shot winner and I didn’t want to settle for anything less.”

Anything for you, SRK!

Best friend ke liye kucch bhi karega. Arjun Rampal, who was prepared for a grand launch of his restaurant Lap in Delhi on July 15, postponed the launch to mid-August because his best friend Shah Rukh Khan is out of the country till the end of this month.

A source said, “Arjun and SRK are extremely close and Arjun makes sure he is present at all parties thrown by SRK. The two have been good friends ever since they bonded on the sets of Farhan Akhtar’s Don in 2006. This time when Arjun was throwing a party, he wanted SRK to attend it. But, SRK is currently shooting in San Francisco for My Name is Khan and is later going to London with wife Gauri and kids for a three-week holiday. He’ll be back in India only by the end of July. SRK told Arjun that he’ll be free to attend the launch only in August and hence Arjun postponed the launch of his restaurant.”

Our source from the restaurant confirmed and said, “The launch will happen some time around August 20.” Lap is in collaboration with restaurateur AD Singh and is designed by Sandeep Khosla of Abu-Sandeep duo.

Shahrukh Khan Unveils Videocon's New Logo - Video

Ten Minutes in Bed with Shah Rukh Khan

It’s 8 o’clock on a Friday night and somehow I’ve ended up in a queen-sized bed on the 30th floor of a five-star hotel, lying next to the King of Bollywood. His right hand grasps my left flipper.

As the camera rolls, we are perfectly still — except for Shah Rukh Khan’s slow, even breathing.

I guess I should mention that I’m wearing a huge, green, fuzzy costume in the shape of a big, pudgy star, and that this is all part of a TV commercial shoot for Videocon.

As the world knows, Khan is in San Francisco for the next month shooting his next big film, Karan Johar’s “My Name Is Khan,” opposite Kajol. But on Khan’s occasional days off, he squeezes in other activities. Today, he’s agreed to shoot four scenes for a promo for Videocon’s launch of a new, bright green logo. The spots will air in India, explained Sunil Tandon, head of marketing for Videocon, India’s leading manufacturer of home appliances.

In the coming months, Videocon will also market its products in the United States. The company will also launch its own mobile phone service along with exclusive Videocon handsets, Tandon told India-West. So the company felt it was time to update its image.

The logo features two green, animated blobs, who have a playful relationship with Khan.

“Chaow is the kind-hearted character; he’s tall, bulky and fat. He has a soft heart; he tries to solve a problem, but does not succeed,” said Tandon.

“Maow is smaller. He comes up with ideas to solve the issue. The two then come together in an animation to create the Videocon logo.”

For the commercial shoot, Chaow and Maow will trail Shah Rukh Khan (as himself) as he shoots a Bollywood movie, takes a break, and snoozes in his hotel.

Maow is being played today by 5-year-old Dev Maheshwari of San Mateo, and Chaow is being played, in a marvelous stroke of luck, by me.

It seems the person who was originally supposed to wear Chaow’s costume, a tall Indian man, didn’t show up in time the previous day, when Khan and his crew, along with the Videocon team, traveled to the Wine Country to shoot in Healdsburg, Calif.

So all of a sudden, there was a vacancy. “I’m 5’10,” I thought to myself. “Why don’t I volunteer?” Before getting into the newspaper business I had a performing arts background, but I’d never worn a mascot costume before. No problem, said the director. You fit the costume, so you’re in.

The fuzzy green costumes were custom-made in Mumbai and crammed into huge suitcases. Mine is nearly seven feet tall, and very large around the middle, supported inside with a collapsible hula-hoop. Although two small eye-holes have been cut out and lined with green netting, it’s nearly impossible to see out or to hear anything, and in order to move from place to place, Dev and I must be led by the hand.

Today, Khan and Videocon have settled in the Castro District, whose colorful denizens range from the fabulous to the freaky — among the passersby were a young man in makeup and a short dress, topped off by a black and white parasol; and a 30-something punk in a Bauhaus t-shirt, with incongruous lip piercings and a pot belly, bumming smokes off the “Khan” crew.

Good thing our punk guest didn’t try to bum a smoke off King Khan himself, as the actor wouldn’t have one to spare. A lit Dunhill constantly hangs from his fingers, as Khan himself directs shots for the ad.

Inside The Mint, a tiny karaoke club on Market Blvd., Khan, choreographer Farah Khan, and Chaow and Maow crowd onto a tiny stage beneath a brightly lit up disco ball. Eighties music (Devo, the Cars) starts to play, and we all move to the music.

“Darling, a little to the left,” Khan tells me as I bump into Farah and nearly become entangled in a hanging strip of disco lights.

Later, we shoot a scene at lunch time (“Maow, be sure and eat all your meat and vegetables so you grow up big and strong like me. Chaow, you’re getting fruit,” says Khan), and a goodbye scene in which we wave to Khan while getting into a van.

Kajol wandered by a few times, on break shooting her scenes for “Khan.” Dressed in a hot pink trench coat, tight black pants and high-heeled black boots (her costume designer, Manish Malhotra, is never more than a few feet away), Kajol was always followed by an assistant holding a silver umbrella — just in case the sun got to be too much. But this is San Francisco, not Mumbai, so the assistant didn’t have too much to do. Later, Kajol relaxed by herself with a paperback, rebuffing any and all who tried to approach her to say hello.

But Khan plays his crowds differently. A dozen or so Indian American movie fans gathered on the sidewalk, and Khan patiently took time to pose for photos.

Some hours later, it was time for the last shot of the day. Dev (amazingly patient and good-natured over the past nine hours) reclines on one side of the bed and I do the same.

“We’re ready!” says a crew member, and Khan is called in. He climbs onto the bed and settles between the two of us, and we all lie still for the final shot.

“Cut! We’re done!” someone says.

As I gaze up at the ceiling through green eye holes, I remind myself to look up that morning’s horoscope.

Salman extols SRK on ‘Dus Ka Dum’

Believe it or not, but Salman Khan recently agreed to a statement about Shah Rukh Khan being a good actor. Recently, on his TV show ‘Dus Ka Dum’, with actor Riteish Deshmukh as his celebrity guest, Salman could be seen actually acknowledging a statement pertaining to SRK.

An insider reveals that Riteish stopped after winning Rs 10 lakh and gave away the money to Salman`s Being Human foundation. When Sallu asked Riteish who his favourite actor was, the former said SRK. And guess what, Salman instantly agreed about SRK being a good actor.

Confirming the buzz, Riteish said, "I didn`t get any negative vibes about Shah Rukh from Salman on the show. He was very cool and dignified and didn`t pass any snide remarks about him. In fact, Salman spoke highly about SRK and his work."

Riteish was accompanied by superstar Govinda on the show, as they featured to promote their upcoming flick ‘Do Knot Disturb’.

SRK with Chow - Mouw

What’s SRK doing with two green creatures who look as though they’ve come from a sci-fi movie?

Well, the two green ‘creatures’ are Chouw and Mouw. And they are part of the revamp of the logo of Videocon, one of India’s foremost electronics brands.

The trademark V of the logo has undergone a ‘green’ change. Those of you who watch TV would have already seen the commercial — that of two green characters intermingling to ultimately form the V of Videocon. But though the animated clip looks kinda cute, creating it was not so simple, if the brain behind the clip, adman Prasoon Joshi, is to be believed.

“What we have done is divide the logo into two units, and make characters out of them — called Chouw and Mouw. Chouw is the kind-hearted one and Mouw the more mischievous one. And together, they send out the message that if you put your heart and mind together, anything can be achieved,” says Prasoon.
But why did the brand feel the need for the change? Was Prasoon clued in to that? Says Prasoon, “The logo needed more energy. So we energised it by giving it a more modern look. Green is the colour of the future. The logo also has a liquefied, fluid-like feel to it. It gives the feeling that the company is on the move and can take any shape and form.”

And the unveiling of the new logo was also done in style — though not with much fanfare. Chouw and Mouw were flown all the way to San Francisco, because the Videocon brand ambassador, Shah Rukh Khan, was there — shooting for Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. And there, on an abandoned petrol pump, a little removed from the hustle and bustle of the city, King Khan unveiled the new logo with just the crew members on the sets, and Chouw and Mouw watching him. Khan, who was pretty touched by the whole effort, said, “My best wishes to Chouw and Mouw. As an actor, I continuously try and reinvent myself to stay connected with my audience. I am delighted to be associated with Videocon, a thinking company that is taking this step to underline and further strengthen its relationship with the consumers.”

But was SRK involved in the creative process? “He is the brand ambassador and he will be seen in the new campaigns very soon. But for now, the new V is the star,” says Prasoon. SRK signs off with, “I am sure Chouw and Mouw will capture millions of hearts and create smiles across the world.”